Kevin MacLeod is a composer par excellence. From a Dr. Who documentary (A Matter of Time) to TV series (six episodes of On the Bench) to horror films (In Case of a Zombie Attack, Once upon a Midnight Dreary II, and infomercials--"Dr. Abergel"), his music lends atmosphere and emotion to the story. For those among us who might not be acquainted with his work, I'll start off by saying that it can be found (and listened to) at www.imcompetech.com, which also features little insights into how each piece was composed and the instruments utilized.

First of all, Kevin, let me say how much I appreciate your agreeing to this interview. It was such a wild idea I wasn't sure whether you'd want to or not, so thank you very much! I'm sure our readers (and writers) are going to enjoy it...and now, I'll let Kevin speak for himself:

Have you always had a leaning toward music or was it something that came to you after you'd decided on another occupation?

I started young. You pretty much need to start young. I actually don't remember that far back. Oh, I was a computer programmer before I did composition full-time.

What's your educational background? Did you study music as a child? Where, if any place, have you studied as an adult?

I went to University of Wisconsin for music education... but I got a job programming before I was certified to do anything.

Is composing your fulltime occupation or do you have a "day job," now?

Just music.

--which, I suppose is enough, isn't it? It's always great to be doing what you enjoy. What type instrument do you use to play your music? I envision you standing before a full orchestra but I'm sure that isn't so.

Yeah, orchestras are incredibly expensive. I have a video over on YouTube that shows one of my set-ups. It is just a little MIDI controller, and a laptop. I'm glad there is a good illusion of an orchestra, though!

I've enjoyed reading the little anecdotes you've included with your music. Which do you like best: writing a soundtrack for a movie, writing something for a video game, a score for a musical, or for something like a podcast or radio drama?

Musicals are the most difficult, but I really like them. Audio dramas are probably the ones I like best. You only need to control mood and pacing with sound there. There isn't a need to work around visual cues.

Do you have a favorite piece among all of them? How did you come to write it?

Gah! I can't answer that! I will say that my more favorite ones, I marked with a star on my site. Usually the last thing I did is the one I like best, and then my like of it fades over time, but a few stay alive. Gagool is a good example. It was written for an audio dramatization of King Soloman's Mines, and the point where the witch lady gives an extensive monologue.

I see that your Archives only go back to 2006. Is that when your website went online? When did you get the idea to have a website?

1995. Remember that programming job? Yeah. That was then. I switched to a blog format in 2006.

Have you ever come across any of the trailers on YouTube which have used your music? If so, do you remember which ones and what did you think of them? Do you still get a thrill out of seeing your name credited or is that "old hat" by now?

Yeah. All the time, actually. One day 7 of the top 20 videos had my music in them. I'll be walking past my friends who are watching videos, and go "Oh! That's me!" Credits are not really a thrilling thing. They are a marketing thing. I do like the IMDB credits page. It actually motivates me to take more work. Now if only I'd get more listings on that. I've done projects that are listed there... but I never took the time to figure out how to edit the entries. No worries.

As I mentioned to you recently, I was channel surfing the other night and heard some familiar music and realized it was Laid Back Guitars and Tango de Manzana being used as background for an infomercial. It gave me a little thrill to realize that I not only recognized the music but kind of knew the person who'd composed them! I suppose most people don't look at the credits in movies, etc., (I do!) so for those folks, are there any recognizable titles you've written for which they might recognize?

I do the DVD Extras on Doctor Who, and a pretty cool film in the UK that was called "Simon and Emily" when I had it. Also just did a short for Michel Gondry, but I don't know the title or release on that one. I've done TV programming for BBC, CBC, NBC, and a lot of other stations in... nearly everywhere; China, Poland, Netherlands. I really- honestly - do not know the industry that I'm a part of. I don't know who is big, or what is popular. So if you're super famous - you'll have to let me know. I don't have a TV, and rarely go to see movies.

I watch Dr. Who on DVD, as well as a lot of other BB shows, so I'm going to look at those credits extra-closely from now on! I think thus far, my favorite piece is "Pilot Error." Do you remember how you came to write it?

That's just a straight-up rock piece. I don't remember exactly what that was for, but it sounds like background music coming from a radio or TV. It may have been in the background of some movie or another.

Falling back on the stereotypical interview form, I'll close this in the usual way: Do you have any words of wisdom or advice for anyone who might be thinking of going into some form of music--playing, composition, etc.--as a career?

For composers, I have several!
Number one: Write a lot of music, and get fast doing it.
Number two: Figure out a way to get your music in front of as many
ears as possible. I think that's foolproof, actually. Even if you start out not very
good - you'll get good quickly because it is all you do! For a musician? I don't know. You'll probably need to ask a musician.

Thank you, Kevin, for giving us some insight into your life as a composer.

Cheers!

And let's give a big cheer for Kevin MacLeod--Hip, Hip, Hooray!--for all the beautiful music he's created and allowed so many of us--myself included--to use...for free. I, for one, have a little roster with the names of people whom I have to pay back when my tenuous finances settle down, and Kevin's is high on that list.

(The trailer below is a montage of scenes from some of my trailers, set to four of Kevin MacLeod's pieces--Achilles, Beach Bum, Bright Wish,and Tango de Manzana.)

Do you see any similarity among Black Sabbath, Wagner's Gotterdammerung, West Side Story and the theme song of The Simpsons?

All rely on tritones. This restless, dissonant interval spans three whole tones (for example the diminished fifth or augmented fourth). Dating from the Middle Ages, the tritone was the development of Guido of Arezzo, nicknamed Diabolus in Musica, meaning the Devil in music

A rich myth surrounds the tritone—that the Church attempted to eradicate the sounds from its music because it invoked a sexual response and was genuinely the work of the Devil.

In an article on BBC News, Professor John Deathridge, King Edward professor of music at King's College London, states:

"In medieval theology you have to have some way of presenting the devil. Or if someone in the Roman Catholic Church wanted to portray the crucifixion, it is sometimes used there."

"But there were musical treatises and sets of rules produced that did come to forbid the use of the interval, which was seen as wrong when it came up in choruses of monks.

"There are strict musical rules. You aren't allowed to use this particular dissonance. It simply won't work technically, you are taught not to write that interval. But you can read into that a theological ban in the guise of a technical ban."

In the Romantic period, composers began using the tritone freely, exploiting the evil connotations. Liszt uses it to suggest hell in his Danta Sonata. Tritones were important in the development of jazz tertian harmony.

But to this day, the much maligned tritone suggests an evil, oppressive or scary meaning in music.

On a warm sunny day I can sit on the swing seat on our patio and watch the birds squabbling over the bird feeder hanging from the plum tree, a book open in my lap, and be entertained for hours.

Ask my teenage son to sit with me and he’s fidgeting within minutes.

Is this the generation gap, or a sign of the times?

When I was a child, we entertained ourselves with books, games, and toys—methods of entertainment that involved active participation of mind and often body. We had to, there were only two hours of children’s television programs aired at teatime each day: no computers, no DVDs, CDs, MP3 players or any other nifty electronic acronyms.

I spent much of my youth grooming and mucking out my pony. (Yep, strange as it may seem to the non-equine inclined among you, that’s entertainment for a pony- obsessed eleven-year-old.)

Today kids need continual stimulation from an external source be it television, computer game or music blaring from some outlet. My son sits with his chair tilted back, ankles crossed on the TV stand, quietly content, with music, computer and TV all playing at once. I can take about two minutes of this assault on the senses before I have to leave the room. Maybe modern kids are wired differently, or maybe they’re so used to being bombarded with external stimulation they’ve learned to cope.

In an age where there is a TV channel dedicated to every subject I can imagine—many of which I’d rather not—do kids get the chance to think for themselves anymore? Are they the best educated most knowledgeable and worldly generation, or brainwashed by the continual bombardment of outside stimuli?

On the other hand…

My son has dyslexia. For many years we struggled to help him read and write. After a lot of hard work, his reading age caught up with his numerical age. Much of the credit for this must go to computer games. Although he loves stories, the effort to read books by himself used to outweigh the pleasure. The only occasions he was motivated to read, because nobody else would help him, was when he played computer games.

Not only did computer games improve his reading, handling the controllers also improved the fine motor control in his hands, helping him wield a pen and write properly.

Having groused about blaring music, I also have to admit I wouldn’t be without my iPod on a long journey, and I certainly wouldn’t swap CDs for the cassette tapes of my youth.

I’ll secretly admit to you, occasionally when I sit on my swing seat and watch the birds, the book slips from my lap forgotten if I have my iPod with me. I might even close my eyes and let the hours slip past as Vittorio Grigolo’s smooth as silk tenor voice lulls me into a pleasant fantasy.